British Leadership During the American Revolution by Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy

As the British soldiers marched from the streets of Yorktown, Virginia on October 17, 1781, their heads hung and their colors remained cased. They marched toward the officers representing General George Washington’s Continental Army where their arms, and pride, was to be surrendered. Each soldier wondered how the increasingly victorious and mighty British Army could possibly be sent into ignoble defeat by their very own colonies. Since that day, scholars, military leaders, and historians have studied the victory of a relatively unprofessional army over their far superior foes. The latest installment in this 234 year debate is the center of a lecture and discussion led by Professor Andrew Jackson O’Shaughnessy in the 4th edition of the First Annual Discussions on Military History Roundtables at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC). Dr. O’Shaughnessy is joined by a panel including Dr. James Scudieri, Senior Historian at the USAHEC, and Dr. Gregory Urwin, Professor of History at Temple University.
The roundtable discussion centers on the arguments made by O’Shaughnessy in his latest book, The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the Revolutionary War and the Fate of the Empire. The book follows the careers and decisions of the primary leaders during the war, from King George III himself to the generals on the front line. How could the British, who captured every major American city throughout the war, lose to the colonial forces? O’Shaughnessy weaves a narrative of political turmoil in London undermining the war effort and the fearsome desperation of the American fighters to outline how each of the primary British actors in this martial saga failed to maintain the holdings of the British Empire.

[@craigscarborough3696]

I am watching this in 2022. The men who lost Afghanistan is a book that should be written.

[@RKarmaKill]

So many whiny comments. Quite good lecture 👌

[@RPMZ11]

It was very well done. None of them have ever graced a university lecture hall in their life.

[@scottn7cy]

This video sets a record for marathon introductions and preamble at least that I have seen. It's 5 minutes before the speaker steps up and another 8 minutes of the speaker talking about his book, and then another 5 minutes criticizing history as presented in movies.. If you really want to hear this lecture start at 18:45.

[@tacocruiser4238]

But it was all entertaining though. That's all that matters. An informative lecture isnt much use if everyone is falling asleep.

[@Clint52279]

I realize its important to know who is giving the information and their qualifications to do so, but it was a tad irritating.

[@larrymartin3678]

Your comment is valid and made me laugh, I Liked the look at history from another perspective though

[@brutusbarnabus8098]

The war was lost by the British when Howe decided to take Philadelphia instead of linking up with Burgoyne in Albany. That was supposed to be the plan but because the British didn’t have a Supreme Commander like an Eisenhower in WWII Howe freelanced and left Burgoyne high and dry. The idea was to cut off the more rebellious northern colonies thereby containing the rebellion. To this day I do not know what Howe was think. It was their best chance to quell the uprising.

[@jasonoconner7863]

If you're actively researching this topic, I recommend you listen to this talk at 1.5 speed. The speaker has an extreme amount of filler ( 10 mins in and he's talking about the cover of his book. , his phone rings mid way through his introduction, etc )

[@hendustl66]

H. h. H. H. H. H. h. h. H. H.ch.ch. hh. H. H. H. H. H. Hh. H. Hh. H. H. H. H. H. H. H. H. Hh. H. H h hh. H hhh. H h. H. H h h.c. h. H. H. H h. H. H. H. Hh. H. H. H. h. h. H.c. h h. H. Hh. Hh. Hh. h. H. Hh. H.c. h. H h. H. H h. H. Hh h. H. h. H. H. h h. H. H h. H. H. H. H. H. H. h. H. H. H. H. Hh. H. H. H. H. H. H. H h. H. H. h. H h. H. H. h. H. H. H h. H. H. h. h h. Hh. H. Hh h . H h. h . H. H h. H. H.c. hhh. h. Hgv h hgv hhg hh g h. Hhhh h

[@aresee8208]

Certainly not a polished "documentary," but his presesentation seems pretty standard for an academic seminar. I had no problem listening to him.

[@worthymartin4008]

well the old chap may be a bit of a fuddy duddy but he treats his subject with warmth and insight and i admire him for it. would have been nice to see the overall political context get more attention but i guess some things are still too painful to contemplate so we had best leave this to the marxist historians harr harr

[@JB-uv4hm]

Check into complete sentences dmbfk.

[@aresee8208]

I think he has the psychoanalyst joke 39:48 backwards. It should be: The BAD new is you're anxious. The GOOD news is you have a lot to be anxious about.

[@johnstevenson1709]

Interesting lecture but the royal navy didn't outnumber the french and Spanish navies in the 18th centuary did it?

[@robertalpy9422]

Nobody said "ye" as (yee) it was just an odd way to write (The) and wherever you se it put the in there and all is clear.

[@ami2evil]

Yhee-Yhee?

[@brutusbarnabus8098]

so the town crier shouting .”Hear ye Hear ye” is a fallacy then? The word ye in Old English is a second person plural pronoun and was used to address a group of people or peers and was in fact pronounced “yee.”

[@paulmicheldenverco1]

Some people have suggested that if the Americans were able to throw off the yoke of the British, the Confederates should have been able to achieve independence as well. I'd like to see a USAHEC do a subject on why the Continental Army won the Revolutionary War but the Confederates lost the Civil War. I'm not a professional historian, but I would say there are two major differences. 1) The Confederates were fighting an industrialized foe in with significant progress into the industrial revolution and 2) The Atlantic did not separate the Union government from the fight and the union could harness telegraph communication and rail transportation.

[@tommacintyre5655]

I would suggest that the major difference was European intervention. America could not have won the revolution without France, and the Confederacy could not convince France or Britain to side with them.

[@markkelly9621]

+Tom MacIntyre Spain also fought against Britain during the war.

[@tommacintyre5655]

Sure! Other European country's as well.

[@martyrobinson149]

It was a coalition against Britain.

[@TomTom-rh5gk]

The Revolutionary war was England's Vietnam. England had worldwide commitments and was very busy with Ireland. The GDP of the colonies was close to the size of England. Moreover the English colonists had close relatives in England and they waged a propaganda war against the Red Coats.

[@horaceball5418]

If the British had George S Patton at their General instead of General Howe, we would be sipping tea right now.

[@briansheehan3430]

General Howe was actually both tactically and strategically brilliant. The problem was that he sympathized with the colonists, and wasn't as aggressive as he should have been. He could have easily destroyed Washington at Long Island.

[@worthymartin4008]

the british are consummate masters of warfare, all that you colonials ever learned was suckled from their ample bosom

[@david6532]

you would be better off with tea look at what coke has done for you lol

[@JB-uv4hm]

Try at least getting in the correct century.

[@ami2evil]

@@david6532 Sniff, sniff... Nose candy, anyone?

[@WendyDaCanuck]

It’s a tough go. The presenter is a very poor speaker.

[@johnstevenson1709]

Also who reads ye as ye rather than the?

[@scottmcdonald5237]

😂

[@TorricRoma]

O'shaughnessy? Lol hey your son Jim has a KZbin channel lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@VisualTedium]

Get Jim on

[@DouglasMoran]

11 minutes into the talk and he is still talking about trivial details of the cover of the book. He is technically a poor speaker: halting speech, uncertain of what he is going to say, ... Gave up -- 2 hours was going to be excruciating.

[@keithmitchell6548]

You missed the point completely...

[@DouglasMoran]

One of those extended trivialities involved which version of the author's name was used on which edition and how it came down from his parents, and which history books his father had read. Please educate me about what was the relevant point of this?

[@keithmitchell6548]

Or rather, how 2 countries can see a common train of events so differently, and how different it is to publish in different countries.... Personally, I find that fascinating. More importantly, it's just a jokey preamble. It's a shame you can't maintain a level of attention beyond 11 minutes, you might learn something. 'Extended'.. lol. I assume you're not used to this more academic type of talk.

[@DouglasMoran]

1. Actually, I am a former professor, but in a discipline where people's time is valuable and speakers are expected to respect their audience. In my discipline, half the audience would have walked out by the 11 minute mark, with more soon to follow. 11 minutes is more than enough for the speaker to demonstrate that he is prepared to, and capable of, delivering a competent talk. It is not a matter of one not being able to maintain attention, but of cutting your losses. 2. The talk was advertised to be about the American Revolution, not publishing. 3. It is talks like these that convince students that historians have nothing relevant to say -- by not getting around to the purported topic, the speaker signals that he doesn't think it is important or interesting. So why should anyone else?

[@keithmitchell6548]

Good god man, you must have been a nightmare to work/be with.. There's nothing worse than someone who takes themselves too seriously.

[@david6532]

noth was not as bad as blair,blair was a liar a thief and a murderer

[@filipeamaral216]

The subject seems interesting but this guy is so boring that I had to thumbs down this video.

[@12rwoody]

Zzzzzz.....zzZZZZZZZZ...

[@ami2evil]

Wake up, you shat yourself!

[@gat2asp919]

My God he drolls on about his stupid book cover for the first 20 minutes.

[@2msvalkyrie529]

Exactly. And it was probably more interesting than what came after ! Where the hell did they find this guy ?! An embarrassment !!